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Chapter nine

The man at the station

Life at the white house was never quite the same again. Jim’s leg got better and better, and he told them stories about his school.

And now Mother was not writing stories every day, she was able to teach the children their lessons.

‘I wonder if the railway misses us,’ said Phyllis one day. ‘We never go and see it now.’

‘It seems, ungrateful,’ said Bobbie. ‘We loved it when there wasn’t anyone to play with. And we’ve stopped waving to the 9/15, and sending our love to Father by it.’

‘Let’s begin again,’ said Phyllis.

So the next morning, they ran down to the fence and watched the 9/15 come out of the tunnel.

‘Take our love to Father,’ they cried, as they waved their handkerchiefs.

The old gentleman waved from his window. And there was nothing strange about that, because he had always waved. But now– hands and handkerchiefs and newspapers waved from every window of the train, and smiling faces looked up at the children on the fence.

‘Well,’ said Phyllis.

‘What does it mean,’ said Peter.

‘Perhaps the old gentleman told the people to wave,’ said Bobbie. But she had a strange feeling inside her, a feeling that something was going to happen.

Lessons with Mother were difficult for Bobbie that morning. She found it hard to think about them.

‘What is it, my darling,’ asked Mother. ‘You don’t feel ill, do you?’

‘I don’t know,’ answered Bobbie. ‘Perhaps I’d feel better in the garden.’

But the trees and the flowers all seemed to be waiting for something to happen. It was one of those quiet September days, when everything does seem to be waiting. ‘I’ll go down to the station and talk to Perks,’ she thought.

Everyone seemed to have a newspaper in their hand that morning. Several people waved theirs at Bobbie, and smiled as she went by - people who never usually waved or smiled at her. ‘How strange,’ she thought.

Perks wasn’t anywhere on the platform, and Bobbie had only the station cat to talk to. ‘How kind and friendly everybody is today,’ she said to the cat.

Perks appeared when it was time for the 11/54 to arrive. He had a newspaper, too.

‘Hallo,’ he said to Bobbie. ‘I saw it in the paper, and I’ve never been so pleased about anything in all my life.’

‘What did you see in the paper,’ asked Bobbie.

But already the 11/54 was steaming into the station, and Perks was looking in all the windows.

Only three people got out of the train. The first was a woman with three boxes of chickens. The second was a woman with a brown suitcase.

And the third–

‘Oh, my Daddy, my Daddy,’ cried Bobbie.

That scream went like a knife into the heart of everyone on the train. People put their heads out of windows and saw the tall white-faced man and the little girl, with their arms around each other.

‘I knew something wonderful was going to happen,’ said Bobbie, as they went up the road. ‘But I didn’t think it was going to be this. Oh, my Daddy!’

‘Didn’t Mother get my letter,’ asked Father.

‘There weren’t any letters this morning,’ said Bobbie. ‘Oh, Daddy. It really is you, isn’t it?’

He held her hand and said, ‘You must go in by yourself, and tell Mother very quietly that it’s all right. They’ve caught the man who did it. Everyone knows now that your Daddy isn’t a spy.’

‘We always knew you weren’t,’ said Bobbie. ‘Me and Mother and our old gentleman.’

‘Yes,’ said Father. ‘It’s him I must thank.’

And now they are going across the field. Bobbie goes into the house, trying to find the right words to tell Mother that Father has come home. Father is walking in the garden - waiting. He is looking at the flowers, but he keeps turning towards the house.

Now the door opens. Bobbie’s voice calls:

‘Come in, Daddy. Come in!’